duston831

if i understand correctly, in order for a dealership to be able to refuse to service the car under warranty, they have to prove that an aftermarket part caused the problem correct? so how many / what type of problems can changing the headers cause? like for example a poor install could cause what? or a problem with the headers themselves can cause what? any serious engine damage? problems with the cat?

i really would like to purchase some headers but want to make sure the chances are slim that they mess anything up

and to anyone who has them already, do they intall as easily as an axle back exhaust or intake?

and has anyone ever taken a car to a dealership to get worked on (under warranty) while having aftermarket accessories on?

Swanny

I would also like to know this information. If anybody can share some input on installed tC headers that would be great.

coppermine18

Great Question, I would like to know as well if anyone has the scoop on this and has asked the dealership themselves!

jrv2000

I personally wouldn't mess with any aftermarket parts on the engine unless you dont care about your warrenty. The only way you can be 100% sure that the dealer cant refuse your warrenty is if your get a toyota/scion dealer to install your part. If you put on an aftermarket part onto your car, your dealership will find some way to prove that it absolutely had to be that part the f*ed up your car. The only major aftermarket part that I have done to my car (besides my TRD parts) is the hotchkis sway bars, which I got my toyota dealer to install for me. (so now they cant say that were installed wrong b/c it would be their fault anyways) Besides that, unless I can get a toyota dealer to install the aftermarket parts for me, Im either sticking to TRD, or will wait until the warrenty is period is over.

SupaWhiteTc

They don't void your warranty. I have taken all of my last 3 cars in for warranty work with thousands of dollars of aftermarket parts on and they don't care. Unless like you said the parts are the direct cause of the problem they won't say anything about it. Our dealership even installed a few of the parts on my Celica GT-S and never said anything about warranty.

jrv2000

^^^^^^Your sooooo lucky to have a dealership like that. When I wanted to get my sway bars put on so that they would be covered under warrenty, 5 out of the 6 dealerships near my house refused to install aftermarket parts, and straight up told me that if they were put on and something was to go wrong with my suspension, they would blame the bar. Thats why I'm nervous about doing anything to my car if it isn't instlled by Toyota/Scion dealers.

duston831

well... i wouldnt think it would be up to the dealer to decide whether or not they want to work on the car under warranty. and you actually paid to have the sway bars installed? how much? just curious

jrv2000

They can void your warrenty if they find that you did something to the car to change the way in which it runs. Now even if the part you added wasn't the problem, they can make up some BS so that they dont have to work on your car for free. Ya, I actually paid to have the sways installed just so that in the future if something happens, they cant say that the bars were installed wrong. It sucks, because i could have easily done it myself, but for the $50 install price, I felt it was worth it to keep my warrenty intact.

SupaWhiteTc

Yeah your dealers must suck. I am friends with the people at mine so they are ok.

jrv2000

Ya, their deush bags. You even mention the idea of putting aftermarket parts on your car, and they'll laugh at you.

engifineer

They most likely can void it. I know a girl I dated had an amp/sub professionally installed in her mazda... it completely voided her waranty. The dealer saw it when she was in for maintenance.

duston831

ok so if u go to a dealer to get something repaired and they see you have some aftermarket part and tell you that they wont work on thh car under warranty, do they go and notify some other department or office or the people that actually take care of the warranty? or can you just go find another dealer and hope for better luck?

Souljah347

there is a law pretecting you from this. muegon moss law or something like that. you can take them to court if they pull that ____.

jrv2000

Ya, but not only is court a huge hassle, but it can get very expensive.

lorddaddy

There is a law protecting it and yes it is expensive, but it would be expensive for both parties. If the dealership that your dealing with is that cheap(which sounds like they are) then they would want to avoid those costs as well.

I forget the law. I read another post with the actual name, I will try to find it. Its a great law and it sounds like the dealerships mentioned in this thread have violated the law.

bambams247

jrv2000 - have you heard of arguing or standing up for what you know? Or calling Scion corporate if any issues arose? I had a Subaru Impreza 2.5RS highly modified with stuff, and they replaced my clutch at 12k miles after I frie dit under warranty. How? Because you speak with them and explain that your mods have nothing to do with the issues and if they still dont do it just call corporate. Thats what I did. I said i wanted it done under warranty, they didnt want to do it, they caleld again and I told em speak with your managers and do it, they said no, then they called the 3rd time, and I told them do it now or Im calling subaru corporate because my mods ahve nothing to do with the clutch and it should go out at 12k miles. AND THEY REPLACED IT, ALL UNDER WARRANTY. You ask waht mods I had......:

- front and rear strut bar
- front and rear sway bar
- header
- catback exhaust
- intake
- springs
- full audio video system custom trunk, headrest monitors, and so on
- short shifter
- neons
- tints
- decals
- and a ton of other fun stuff on the car!

So ya jsut know what you are doing and you should be fine! I plan on modding the sh*t out of the scion and dont expect any issues (including a trd supercharger, even tho trd) and exhaust system, intake, shifter, clutch, flywheel, audiovideo and more more more!

engifineer

Unless they try to say that you driving it like a racecar with all the mods tore up your clutch. Not sure what they told you, but that might have been what they were thinking. A clutch should never go out that early unless it is one crappy clutch or really hard driving (unless it is a person new to driving a stick, but it doesnt sound like that is the case). It really depends on the situation though. And some dealers are a lot better than others about backing you.

bambams247

I basically beat the heck out of it, tis AWD so never drove an AWD car stick beforehand, so I discovered AWD launches. But still shouldnt go out at 12k, but it did, and they covered it, after some arguing and knowledge of the car world. I seriously dont expect any issues with Scion at all!